We Promised
by AraineHH
Summary: They had made a promise. A promise to let their love go and put their feeling aside to fulfill their father's wishes and keep their clans going but as old age catches up and all is done can they keep it? Major ShikaIno/Inoshika, side ShikaTema and InoSai
1. Shikamaru

_Disclaimer: This fanfiction and cover image used is merely written for the enjoyment of the author and readers and is in no way associated with the creators or producers of Naruto, no copyright infringement is intended. _

The steady beeping of a heart monitor could be heard from just outside the open door. How long had he had been sitting there watching her? He had no idea how long. He should tell her, they said neither of them has very long, after all, that's why they requested to be moved to the same room. She was his best friend. They were born a few hours apart, grew up in houses side by side, spent countless hours together, knew each other better than anyone else, but could he? They were sitting feet apart from each other and yet he couldn't find the courage to let go and give in to what he knew they both truly wanted. How could he keep pretending? Knowing she's dying and still keep the wall up? Keep lying to himself just like they have been ever since that night. He could still remember it clear as day.

_They had just received the news that their dad's had died. They had just told their parents before the war began that they were dating. It didn't go exactly how they had planned... you could see the pain in their eyes the sadness for them. They had smiled at them but they fell away as they said "There is no easy way to say this. You guys can never be together." They shattered their hearts with those two sentences. In the back of his mind, he knew this would be the answer but he had denied it says there was some way around it. They were expected to both produce two new heirs to the clans, to continue the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition._

They had said they didn't care at the time they had stayed together, but then the dad's passed away. They knew their dads were happy they made each other happy but they also knew they had wanted them to keep the tradition going. So that night they decided they would split and follow traditions to honor their dads. Still to this day has been the hardest thing they have ever had to do but they did it.

They had both found someone else and had a kid, they both kept living. Now their old, frail people. They're two old people who loved each other yet denied themselves that. He has to be close to her at the end and so he requested the move but what he hadn't counted on was it to be this hard, this hard to refrain, he's been doing it for years yet it's never gotten any easier.

"Come on Dad just tell her how you feel."

Shikadi had always been a smart kid, just like him. He saw all the sad smiles and the small gestures no one else did. He saw the way his father's eyes softened when he looked at his Aunt Ino, even when he tried to hide it so hard. He saw the sadness and longing in his Aunt's eyes when his mother kissed his father.

Shikamaru looked at his son and it hit him. His son had known for so long, that's the same way his wife always looked at him when Ino was around. The same sadness yet understanding, she knew he cared for her but she knew his heart didn't belong to her. It was already gone before they met.

Making sure to keep his voice to a whisper he looked back at his son. "I don't know. We made a promise we wouldn't ever be that way again. But seeing her on that bed and it's so hard to keep holding back..."

"Then it's ok. It's ok, you did your job. I'm here, Inojin's here."

It was now or never.

"Hey, Ino." It hurt so much to see her there, lying there dying when there's nothing I can do about it.

"Hey yourself you old bum. Come on over." Ino gave a soft smile, patting a spot on the bed beside her. Giving in I went straight to the bed, holding her in my arms again after so many years. It felt right. Yes, I love Temari but in a different way and it's not the same. Holding Ino, it all felt right again.

"Shik-"

"Shhhh we're not doing this anymore. We did our jobs, we can just be us now. We both lived good lives and we fulfilled our father's wishes."

And so finally here we are, back where we should be. With each other, whispering jokes, laughing. I held her till I heard the heart monitor go flat. I kissed her one last time, I showered her with all the love I'd been denying for so long. We finally forgot the promise we had kept for so long.

Shikadi's POV*

The next day was a sad but happy one. I had come with Inojin to see his mother and find my father and there he was holding Aunty. They had passed away peacefully. She had died of old age and he had let his lung cancer win, after so many years.

The funeral was held a few days later. Some people were surprised when they were buried side by side, but those who knew them best weren't. My mom wasn't, Uncle Sai wasn't, they had known. They knew their spouses loved them but they also knew they loved each other more than they could ever understand. We all smiled knowing they were finally happy.


	2. Shikadai

_Disclaimer: This fanfiction and image used for the cover is merely written for the enjoyment of the author and readers and is in no way associated with the creators or producers of Naruto, no copyright infringement is intended._

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Standing in the doorway he watched as his Father sat on the bed his Mother sitting beside him quietly whispering to him. Listening to the slowing sound of his Father's heart monitor he watched as the familiar look on his Father's face slipped back into place, he was looking at his wife but he wasn't really seeing her. It was the same expression he had seen all his life whenever his Aunt Ino was around.

From a young age he had learned, many things do not end up as they should. True to the Nara name he had his Father's brain, he was smart and always observant, always reading people. He knew his parents loved each other but he also knew they weren't in love. He saw the sadness hidden in his Mother's smile when his aunt and Father spoke but he also saw the understand she held. They were meant for each other but life was cruel and in the end, they had denied themselves their own true happiness for the sake of the clans.

He had grown up around the whole Ino-Shika-Cho tribe but for some reason, his Aunt Ino had always been around just a little bit more. When he was a child he didn't think much of it, after all, they did live right beside one another but as he got older he realized it. As the years pass he began to see more and more of the small gestures they did for one another and the unspoke love yet understanding both his Mother and Uncle Sai held. He continued to watch through the years as Inojin discovered it and came to a happy understand just like the rest of them.

His Mother was a strong woman, with a strong temper but when he was ten he finally understood. She was kind to everyone but she missed her home, her brothers. Once he was older she began going back to Sana a lot more. Sometimes taking him with her sometimes not, always claiming it was for business but he knew it was more than that. She knew her husband loved her but she knew she also wasn't who he held closest in his heart, his heart had always belonged to Ino.

Pulled out his thoughts once again he heard the scrape of the wooden chair against the flood as and his Mother stood up and whispered one last thing to his Father,

"it's ok." Before giving him a kiss on the cheek and walking past him out of the room. Her permission and final goodbye.

He couldn't bring himself to move from his spot though as he watched his Father turned his head to look at the other women in the room. Sitting just a few feet away in another bed was his Aunt Ino, staring out the window overlooking the village. Both adults were old and now the time was coming. Her head turning as she heard his Father calls her name. He smiled as he watched him get up and walk over to her, climbing in the much too small bed for two people and as he stroked his hand over her cheek and whispered to her. He felt his heart lift as smiles finally lit up their faces and the tears began to roll down their cheeks. They were finally happy and finally together. He could now walk away knowing his Father and his aunt were ok because they finally had each other.

When he and Inojin came back that night they stood in the doorway just like he had to just watch and listen as they whispered one last thing to each other as their heart monitors slowed to a stop.


	3. Temari

_Disclaimer: This fanfiction and image used for the cover is merely written for the enjoyment of the author and readers and is in no way associated with the creators or producers of Naruto, no copyright infringement is intended._

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She along with all those who knew and loved Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka, stood at the graveyard just days after that fateful night. All dressed in black she stood with her son on her left and the husband of her dear friend, Sai Yamanaka on her right. Keeping her eyes straight she looked at the two pictures that had been placed for each of them. They were good but she couldn't help but think they didn't do either of them justice, but then again she thought no picture could ever truly capture either of their essences not entirely. Her late husband had his customary lazy expression on his eyes half-closed his mouth set in a straight line but that was only the obvious parts of him, it lacked the intelligence always swirling behind those small dark iris and later the hidden weariness and longing that seem to grow apart of him as more time had passed.

Ino had her customary bright smile on, her baby blue eyes shining but like Shikamaru there was still so much missing. She couldn't help but notice how her smile never seemed to quite reach her eyes as it did in their younger days but like her husband time had changed even the great Ino Yamanaka who's will power was only barely matched by the seventh Hokage himself. As she had gotten to know her more she had noticed how her smile was never quite complete or how her eyes despite the fact that they shone always seem to hold a deep sadness and regret deep in them. She had only really noticed it one day when Ino had taken her out for coffee for the first time,

*flashback*

They had gotten their drinks at the small coffee shop on the main strip of shops in the village. Ino lead her to a table and so they sat in silence. She didn't really know what to say to Ino, she didn't know her all that well despite her engagement to Shikamaru she hadn't really had time or had reached out to get to know any of the Kohona shinobi well.

"So first off I wanted to welcome you to the family! Since your now gonna be part of the Nara clan now," Ino had started the conversation with a smile, talking to her like she was an old friend. Her voice never lacking its usual cheeriness.

I'm one hundred percent sure you'll fit in just perfect! After all, Shika needs someone to keep him in line, heaven knows how he'd survive without it!" Leaning forward slightly and dropping her voice she looked Temari dead in the eyes and had been when she saw it. The sadness that she had obviously tried so hard to bury deep inside and yet carried around with her.

"Personally, I like you better than Choji's girlfriend. She's..." Pursing her lips she paused, "I don't know just rubs me wrong. But don't tell him or her I said that he would kill me!"

It hadn't been until about a year after Shikamaru and herself were married that she had discovered why that sadness was there. It was one night when she had hosted the other two families of the Ino-Shika-Cho team over for dinner she saw it. Shikamaru and Ino had been in the kitchen, Ino insisting she should help although she had declined originally tell her she was a guest she didn't need to.

The two were standing shoulder to shoulder Ino at the sink and her husband to her right with a dishcloth in hand. They had been quietly conversing but it was the looks on their faces that had frozen her in her tracks. Something about them was different they looked so. At peace with each other. From then on she had started to notice more and more of the tiny tip-offs that what she had thought that night was right. The small, barely-there and very discreet touches they would give each other, the looks of longing when they thought the other or anyone was looking. They loved each other, no that was incorrect. They were still in love with each other. Not like Shikamaru didn't love her, no she knew he did and she was happy with that. So as time went by and Shikadai got older she started to focus on herself more, taking more trips back to Sana to see her brothers, not because she didn't love her husband. No not at all she loved him she always had. Simply because she knew they were made for each other like yin and yang, complete opposites yet perfectly fitting and the more she observed the more she realized he had given his heart to her long before she had even met him. It didn't make her love him any less but she knew she needed to think of herself too, her own happiness that she would have to learn to obtain without believing the fairy tale that her husband was only hers.

Most women would have normally stayed by their husband's bedside until they passed but she knew they were different after all she had found out years upon years ago. So she had let him be free, free of the unspoken tie she knew he felt he had to uphold to her. Later when she had come back with her son and nephew and found they had passed she couldn't help but feel peace along with her sadness for the two lovers where had been wrapped in each other's arms. Now as she watches the two caskets get placed deep in the ground despite her sadness for the loss of her husband and one of her best friends she smiles, knowing that now they are finally free of all obligations they can finally be where they were meant to be. Together.


End file.
